Learning to Trust
by Todd's Pet
Summary: The wraith invade Earth and Babs learns the hard way that they're not what we hoped they would be... but another hive comes along and a certain Commander slowly wins her trust - aaawwww


Learning to Trust

"What did I say? Be careful what you wish for!" Babs posts despairingly. "These wraith are not the soft and fluffy love-muffins of our fantasies! Seems the real thing are mean and nasty and suck the life out of any humans they can literally get their hands on!"

"But at least they have worshippers too," Debs counters, "So we still have a chance to stay alive and who knows what they might be like in private?"

"Not snugly sex gods, that's for sure!" Babs posts, adding a scowling-faced smilie to her comment.

"How far has the culling gone where you are?" Debs asks.

"Pretty bad, actually, and no one seems to be given the option of becoming a worshipper as far as I can tell."

"Maybe you can ask once you get onto a hive?"

"Yeah right," Babs replies, "Somehow I don't think 'Take me to your leader' is gonna get you very far when they're cocooning you into their deep freeze for next month's dinner!"

Just then, the forum crashes. Babs tries repeatedly to log back in without success for more than two hours before her Internet connection crashes too.

Within minutes she hears the high-pitched whine from outside, like the contents of a giant wasp hive going berserk in the car park. She peers out of her window and sees dozens of wraith darts flying around in all directions.

Just as she realises she doesn't know what direction to run in, the blue blur of a culling beam picks her up from where she stands.

The last words she ever says on her home planet are, "Oh god, please don't let the one who feeds on me look like Fred!"

oOo

She wakes up on a wraith hive, but not in a storage cocoon. She squeezes the bridge of her nose with her fingers as she rolls over onto her side and staggers to her feet.

"Gives you one mother of a headache, doesn't it?" someone says to her.

She looks round and sees that she's in a holding cell with at least twenty other people of mixed gender and all unconscious. The person who spoke to her puts his hand out and takes her elbow, helping her to steady herself.

"You don't remember, do you?" he asks her, his deep voice gentle and melodic.

"Remember what?"

"Getting zonked repeatedly with a wraith stunner… no innuendo intended." He shrugs and she looks up at this tall man who seems oddly casual given the circumstances.

"Name's Chris," he tells her. He takes his hand from her elbow and holds it out to her. She looks at his hand then back up at his face. He shrugs and drops his hand.

"You must be strong," he says, "You woke up first."

"You woke up first," Babs points out.

"I wasn't hit three times like you were." She frowns and tilts her head and he goes on, "I've been on a few hives now… I'm strong," he looks at himself self-consciously, "They get me to do heavy work. Anyway, you were among the new ones but they must have figured you as strong and put you aside to be transferred here, but you obviously had other ideas… they stunned you, but it took three hits before you went down. They weren't the only ones who were impressed."

"So what happens now?" she shrugs off his compliment.

He nods over to where three or four of the others are starting to come round. "They'll wait for everyone to wake up then one of them will come and allocate us our new jobs."

oOo

At least the wraith she's been given to doesn't look like Fred or Boris, she thinks to herself. She follows behind him as he leads her through the hive corridors. He has long, smooth hair, full of lots of thin braids and a single stranded goatee, surrounded in a small but intricate tattoo – but there's a harsh set to his face that disturbs Babs more than just a little.

The second they are inside his quarters he rounds on her. She stands as tall as she can manage, though she's a full head shorter than him, looking straight ahead as he circles her repeatedly, clearly trying to intimidate her.

"Unlike some wraith I have heard tell of, I do not appreciate defiance in my worshippers," he tells her menacingly. "I will give you a list of duties which I expect you to do without complaint. Other than carrying out your chores efficiently and punctually, I expect to not know you are here. Is that understood?"

"What if I need to–?"

The words are abruptly cut off as the wraith's hand makes contact with her jaw. She stumbles off to the side and sees him lift his hand again from the corner of her eye. She ducks and spins around, but this only seems to annoy him more and he grabs her arm and pins her against the wall.

With his face barely an inch from hers, he snarls at her, "You will not speak unless I ask you a question and then I expect only yes, or no!" She twists her head to the side but he grabs her jaw and pulls her round to look at him again. "Is that understood?" he hisses in her face.

"Yes," she replies, meeting his gaze. But the defiance in her heart is too clear in her eyes and he beats her anyway.

oOo

If Debs finishes her chores for the day early her wraith lets her go to the observation bay to watch the stars. Today has gone well and she is returning to his quarters for the night. He's no Todd, that's for sure, but he's tolerant, patient and relatively attractive and she's starting to get used to her new life.

She goes back via the work deck to pick up her wraith's laundry and, as she turns into the collection room, she bumps into another worshipper, knocking her pile out of her arms.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Let me help you," she offers. The other woman is sullenly silent as she picks up the clothes and refolds them. Debs helps and hands over some t-shirts, saying, "There, no harm done."

"No," the other woman says in a dull and lifeless voice. "He'll only beat me if they're not perfect, so no harm done."

The woman lifts her head and Debs sees the old yellowing bruises from a black eye inflicted some weeks ago, as well as a ruby-red slash from a recent cut lip. She doesn't know what to say but as the woman shoulders past her, she turns and calls after her, "Wait! Don't I know you from somewhere?"

The other woman turns to look at Debs and says, "Would it matter even if you did? Earth is long gone now."

Debs moves closer and puts her hand on her arm, "They're not all like that. You can speak to the hive Commander, ask for a transfer," she offers.

"He'd kill me first," she replies flatly.

"Babs?" Recognition dawns on Debs' face. "It is you, isn't it? Oh gods, what has he done to you?"

The realization that this is someone she knew, someone from her old life, someone she had spent happy times with, is the final straw for Babs and a fat, glistening tear rolls down her cheek and drips onto the pile of laundry she holds in her arms. The sound of it hitting the clothes is like a bomb going off in her head and she lets her arms fall to her sides, the laundry tumbling to the floor again, as she lets go of weeks of pain and fear.

Debs sinks to the floor with her and holds her as she sobs uncontrollably.

oOo

In the mess hall set aside for worshippers to eat, Babs sits with her hands wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate.

Her wraith barely gives her enough time just to grab energy bars every other day, so she hasn't tasted anything like this in such a long time. The thick, creamy sweetness is comforting and she doesn't hear the others speaking about her as if she weren't there.

"But he must be being systematically cruel to her!" Debs pleads. "Look at her – she's covered in bites and bruises; he's been doing this to her for weeks!"

"And what do you think he'll do to her if she asks to be allocated to another wraith?" Chris says calmly.

"I'll ask the Commander myself, then," Debs counters. "Or I'll ask my wraith to speak to him – they're on friendly terms."

"You might as well kill her yourself if you do that," Chris objects. "You know there's only one way she can get away from him."

"But how…?"

Chris looks down at Babs, lost in the depths of her mug of chocolate as if she weren't really there. He can see that her spirit is not quite broken, but she's badly damaged nonetheless.

"I'll do it," he tells Debs.

"How?"

"I have access to their power systems," he says, "For repairs. I'll find a way to booby-trap his terminals, or… I'll think of something."

"When?"

"I don't know. I'll have to just grab the chance whenever I get it." He looks at Babs again, reaches out and gently runs his hand down her hair. "But it'll have to be soon, before he breaks her completely."

oOo

But Chris never gets the chance, for the very next day they are attacked by another hive.

Babs is braiding her wraith's hair when she's almost knocked off her feet as the hive rocks violently. Her newly-honed instincts make her right herself instantly and resume braiding with barely a moment's interruption that could inflame his displeasure.

The hive rocks again and this time there are several loud crashes, like explosions. The wraith jumps up from where he sits and leaps for the door. "Stay here!" he growls at her before he disappears from view.

She sits and waits for several minutes, listening to noises she now knows can only mean that the ship is under attack. Does she stay here and risk dying on the ship? Or does she defy her wraith and risk his wrath if all is well after all?

Her instinct for survival wins out and she swipes the door panel and steps out of the open doorway. Dozens of wraith and drones are hurrying down the corridor, walking around her where she stands. Does she follow them?

In the end she does what she has always done all her life: she swims upstream, turning and walking in the opposite direction to everyone else.

oOo

She's completely lost by the time she literally bumps into Chris and Debs. They have about eight others with them.

"Where are you headed?" Chris asks Babs.

"I don't know," she answers honestly. "As far away from wraith as possible."

"That's not such a bad idea," Chris agrees, "I've heard rumours that if a hive is under attack and they think they're going to lose the battle they feed on all the humans they have just out of spite so the enemy can't have them."

"Underneath the dart bays," one of the others suggests. "It's the last place they'd try looking for humans."

Debs looks on, horrified, but follows Chris and Babs with the others anyway. Not for the first time she wonders how she managed to get lucky enough with the wraith she'd been given to. He had been kind and gentle and she wonders what he's doing now. She feels a sharp stab of regret at the thought that he may already be dead. She prays with all her heart that, if they end up being parceled out again to the wraith on the attacking hive, that at least Babs gets a wraith more like the one she'd had.

Babs had been right all those weeks ago when Earth had first been invaded. None of them are anything like the fantasy wraith they used to chat about, but he had at least been more than just bearable.

oOo

The victorious wraith are clearly more lateral thinkers than the recumbent ones, and they scan the crippled hive for life signs. The surviving worshippers are rounded up ready for transfer to their own hive.

Chris searches amidst the chaos for Debs and Babs and finds them huddled together in a dark corner, away from the crowd. He ushers them back toward the main group, telling Debs, "We need to lose her in the crowd, so she doesn't stand out too much when the new lot start re-allocating."

Now that she knows she's back in wraith hands, Babs has withdrawn back into herself again. Chris pushes her behind himself, so she is almost completely hidden by his tall, well-built frame.

"The aggressive, higher ranking ones tend too chose first," he tells Debs. "Stand behind me – if I can hide you two for as long as possible you might get one of the quieter ones."

Debs says nothing but her eyes are big and round and afraid when she looks up at him.

"Is your wraith still alive?" Chris asks, but without waiting for an answer, he goes on, "It doesn't really matter if he is. If they don't kill him anyway he'll be absorbed into this new hive, probably in a much more junior position. You'll be re-allocated regardless… we'll just have to hope you both get one of the better ones."

oOo

Debs almost faints when the conquering Commander strides into the hall. The coat, the hair, the face, even the tattoo…

"It's Todd," she whispers aghast into Chris's back. He twists his head and whispers back. "Don't count on it – he just looks like him, that's all."

The Commander does just as Chris had expected and paces back and forth a few times in front of the huddle of humans, sizing them all up and down. They look like a strong bunch, he thinks to himself, defiant too by the looks of them. They should be useful.

Just then he suddenly swings off to the side and marches right down the middle of them. Taken unawares, Chris shuffles sideways to try to keep the girls out of sight. Too late, the Commander spots them and makes a beeline for them.

Chris, just as tall as the imposing Commander, stands his ground, much to the wraith's amusement. The wraith faints to the side, as if to make a grab for Debs, but as soon as Chris moves to protect her, the wraith grabs Babs by the arm and pulls her out in front of Chris.

She stands there, unresponsive and staring straight ahead at his chest. He lifts her chin with his hand and looks into her eyes. He recognizes the haunted look of a human broken by a vicious and spiteful wraith… but wait. As he looks deeper he searches her mind and finds it. This one is not broken yet; the spark of defiance is still there and he wonders if she's even only still alive because of it.

Still holding Babs' jaw in his hand he looks over at Debs, who had been staring in awe at this wraith who looks so much like Todd. She immediately ducks back behind Chris.

The Commander lets go of Babs and signals to two wraith officers behind him.

"These two are mine," he tells them.

Chris groans inwardly as Debs and Babs are led away. He wonders if he'll ever see either of them alive again.

oOo

Debs stands in the middle of the room they've been taken to, her arm around Babs. All the time they've been waiting Debs has been muttering under her breath, please let him be more like our Todd, please let him be kind.

Suddenly her heart leaps into her mouth as the door opens and "Todd" stands there, his huge frame filling the doorway.

He walks inside, takes his coat off and sits on a bench along one side of the room. "Are you two going to stand there all night?" he asks. When neither girl replies he sighs and tells them, "Sit."

On automatic pilot, Babs simply hears a wraith give her a command and she walks over and sits on the bench. Reluctantly, Debs follows and sits too. He twists to face them and asks, "How long since you two last ate?"

Babs says nothing so Debs replies hesitantly, "I ate only yesterday, but I don't know how long ago for her." Babs' hands are folded in her lap and Debs puts one hand over them. "She's much thinner than before… before the wraith invaded our planet. I don't think the one who took her fed her."

The Commander gets up and walks to the doorway, opens it and looks at one of the drones standing outside, who then walks off quickly. When he comes back to the bench he says to Debs, "What's her name?"

"Babs."

"And yours?"

"Debs."

"You will address me as Commander at all times outside these rooms," he tells her, "But when we're alone here, you may call me Todd."

Debs takes a sharp intake of breath and her hand flies to her throat.

He sees her reaction and asks, "There is something wrong with that?"

She lowers her eyes and says, "It's a very long and complicated story."

She's saved by a sharp buzz from the door. "You can tell it to me later," he says as he walks to the door. He takes what looks like a large cool-box from the drone and brings it to a table at the back. He opens the box and takes out several tubs. Peeling back lids he places a bowl in front of each of two chairs.

"Come and eat," he tells them. Following orders, Babs gets up from the bench, walks to the table and sits in front of one of the bowls. The smell of the steam coming from the rich, savoury stew in it makes her stomach growl loudly. She looks at it longingly, lifts her hand as if about to use her fingers to scoop it up, but then looks up at Todd. He holds a spoon out and she takes it from him, diving into the stew with it and eating hungrily.

He hands Debs a spoon and she looks across at Babs, who is almost finished hers already. Todd sees her horrified expression and tells her, "Eat. If she needs more there is plenty."

As if to illustrate the point, he takes bread and fruits from the box. He breaks off a large chunk of bread and Babs instantly looks up, straight into his eyes. He holds it out to her and she snatches from his hand. But before she looks away from him and back to her stew she says, "Thank you."

oOo

"That's quite a story," Todd says after Debs explains her reaction to his name. "And you say she was a… what did you call it? A fan of this make-believe wraith called Todd?"

"Possibly your –I mean his number one fan. She even called herself Todd's Pet on the forum. The Commander growls softly and she mistakes it for annoyance. "I'm sorry. She'd be mortified if she knew I'd told you that."

"It is not the name I object to," he says quietly, "If she is so reluctant to trust me in spite of that, then how cruel must he have been to her?"

Debs, impressed with how much the other wraith's abuse has angered him, softens almost immediately. "She'll learn to trust you, I know she will," she says.

They both look across at Babs where Todd had left her in the corner playing games on his computer console while he and Debs spoke. He gets up and walks over to her and puts his hands on her shoulders. Although he can feel her muscles bunch up into knots she doesn't flinch or jump. It's a start, he thinks.

He watches her play for a few moments and says, "She's very fast; she has an agile mind." He turns and looks at Debs. "You are both intelligent. Once you're settled in properly I will arrange for you to study something that interests you."

Debs is about to thank him when Babs pipes up with "No time. Chores."

He turns back to Babs and tells her, "I am not so high maintenance that you will need to work all day. I will make sure you have time to yourself every day." He squeezes her upper arms and pulls her to stand. "Now you both need to sleep," he says leading her by the arm and indicating to Debs to follow him.

There is only one bed, she notices; an enormous one, but only one. Todd senses her thoughts and tells her, "I do not need to sleep every night so for now it is yours."

She looks around the room for several minutes then becomes suddenly aware of how tired she is and moves to the edge of the bed. She turns and sits and wonders where Babs has gone. Then she sees Todd bend down toward the floor and stand up with Babs already asleep in his arms.

"She curled up on the floor to sleep at the foot of the bed?" she asks, astounded.

"It must have been what he made her do…" Todd makes a soft growl of anger.

"Is that normal?"

"Not on my hive," he snarls and lays Babs in the bed. "Sleep well," he tells Debs and leaves.

oOo

The next morning, Debs wakes and goes through to the other room, where she sees that Todd has left fruit, bread and milk out for them. The two women eat in silence for several minutes before Debs ventures, "Todd seems to be kind."

"He's not Todd," Babs says.

"Maybe he's like an AU Todd?" Debs suggests. Babs shrugs. "Did that other wraith make you sleep on the floor?"

"I was no better than a dog," she says, "If he could have put me outside on a chain he would have."

"Todd isn't like that. He was really angry at how badly you've been treated."

"He's not Todd. Real wraith are bad."

Debs reaches across the table and puts her hand over Babs'. "Not all of them, Sis."

They're interrupted by the door opening and two wraith stand in the doorway. Even from the other side of the table, Debs can see Babs tense up. The wraith don't come into the room, but one of them addresses Debs from the doorway. "The Commander has asked us to show you around the hive and then take you to see him in the worshippers' mess hall."

When they don't respond he steps back into the corridor and the other sweeps his arm toward the outside and says politely, "Please, this way."

oOo

"She's getting much stronger again," Debs tells Chris. "The Commander of this hive is… well, he's kind, actually.

"Kind and wraith are not two words you expect to hear in the same sentence," Chris says. "Even the good ones could hardly be described as kind."

"Todd is kind," Debs insists.

"He's not Todd," Chris says, echoing what Babs had said. "He just looks like him."

"He is, he even told me that's his name, or at least what we can call him in private," Debs repeats, feeling strangely defensive of him. "And he told me that before I told him about our TV Todd."

"You told him about that? What did he say?"

"He seemed to be amused by it," Debs says. "He said the writers obviously only ever encountered one type of wraith. Anyway," she adds impatiently," the main thing is, he's good to us and Babs is recovering."

"Yes, that's good news," Chris concedes.

"What about you?"

"Pretty much the same thing – the heavy work – only…"

"Only what?"

"Well on the other hives I was just a work horse, nothing more, one of the lowest forms of life on the ship," he explains. "But here I seem to be on a par with their drones. Okay, that's still pretty low, but I'm being given more complicated repairs to do, being trusted with computer terminals, even weapons systems."

"See? I told you this is a good hive."

"But how many more are there like it and how long will we be able to stay here?"

oOo

After a remarkably short day of chores, Babs is back in Todd's quarters, playing computer games so she does not have to speak to him. But he is not so easily put off. He lifts his hand to stroke her hair and she instinctively raises hers to protect herself.

"Was he so bad so you?" he asks. He lets his hand fall to her shoulder while he searches her mind. "Who is this human you're thinking of who was also cruel to you?"

"My first husband," she says flatly.

"Ah, so you believe all males of any species to be this way, but they're not, wraith no more than human."

"I know that," she twists in her seat to look up at him. "My second husband was one of the best."

"Indeed," he replies, raising one eyebrow ridge. "Then perhaps your wraith relationships will follow the same pattern." He smiles wryly.

"Do wraith not despise weakness?"

"It is not weak to tolerate another's cruelty, day in, day out," he says. "It takes great courage to survive such a thing - as you have, not once but twice."

"Are wraith not cruel by nature?"

"No," he replies. "We are proud, certainly, even arrogant at times. But cruelty is weakness, not strength. Where is the pride to be taken in abusing someone not strong enough to defend themselves?"

This time when he reaches to her she does not flinch from him and he runs his hand down the length of her hair. She turns and looks him in the eye and a wave of something that feels almost like relief washes over her.

"I will expect you to do the work of any worshipper, but be assured that I will not abuse you," he tells her gently. She looks away again, not knowing how to react to this wraith who is trying to reassure her. "I can see that you are still uncertain," he adds, "But I hope that some day you will be able to trust me."

oOo

"Debs I just found out something important," Chris says excitedly when they meet up in the worshippers' mess hall. "There's a whole alliance of hives with the same attitude as this lot and we're heading to rendezvous with them in a new planetary system."

"I know," she tells him.

"You do?"

"Yes. Todd told me."

"He did?"

Debs smiles indulgently. "I told you he's different. He told me that they're planning to form orbiting hive colonies, stick together and protect each other."

"Yeah, that's what the guys told me too."

"The guys?" Debs gives him and incredulous look. He shuffles his feet and shrugs his shoulders before he dumps his food tray on the table and sits opposite her.

"Em… the drones…"

"The drones? The drones are 'The guys'?" She can't help herself from laughing.

"They're wraith too…" Chris says, blushing now.

"Yes, but… 'The Guys'? Do they even speak?"

"Of course they speak… well, they speak when they're spoken to, I guess… I work with them a lot, so I guess they see me as an equal, so they… well, they speak to me like they speak to each other."

"Well, well… I suppose there really is a lot we don't know about wraith after all," Debs says, taking a bite of her apple. "Oh! Talking of…"

Chris shovels some kind of stew into his mouth and says "Mmm?" around it.

"Todd also told me that the best scientists on all the hives in this alliance are researching alternative feeding methods – ways they can feed but without killing us. Todd said it would be kind of like us living off the milk from a cow instead of killing it and eating it."

"So they're really serious then, these wraith? We can trust them?"

"Looks like it."

"Who would've believed it, eh?" Chris says around another mouthful of stew. "Vegetarian wraith!"

oOo

Todd arrives back at his quarters after his shift at about the same time as the girls get back after their chores.

"I have gifts for you," he tells them animatedly. "I hope you like them. They are things you both told me you once enjoyed."

Debs opens a box of books and squeals with delight, flinging her arms around Todd and hugging him.

Babs opens her box with significantly less enthusiasm, but nevertheless, she says, "Thank you," when she finds paper and pencils, brushes and paints therein.

"Not only that," he says, leading them both to the computer terminal at the back of his room. He holds his arm out to indicate a new screen linked to his – and a keyboard.

"It's in human! I mean, English!" Debs exclaims, tapping the keyboard. The screen springs to life and looks exactly like the system she had at home, on Earth.

"I had it set up so it would be familiar to you," Todd tells them. "You can both write your stories and communicate with worshippers on other hives within our alliance."

Babs looks at him suspiciously and taps several keys, reads the screen, taps some more and looks back at Todd. "This is a fully networked terminal," she says, "And it's not even firewalled as far as I can tell."

"Indeed," Todd says. "If you were clever enough – and I believe you might be –you could probably access several of the ship's systems from here."

"Why would you do that?"

"To show you I trust you."

oOo

"Why can't you trust him?"

"Because, unlike you, I'm not madly in love with him," Babs says. Debs looks wounded and doesn't reply. Babs sighs. "I'm sorry, Sis, I didn't mean that as spitefully as it sounded. I am a lot happier here on this hive. You're right, these wraith are different. It's just that… well, I'm just … not ready yet…"

"He's being very patient with you and…"

"And what? Don't exhaust his patience or he'll feed on me?"

"No! I just meant… well, perhaps he actually deserves a little more effort."

Just then Todd comes into the room. Debs gets up and goes to him and helps him off with his coat. While she puts it away, he walks over to Babs. She turns her head away from him and he senses her feelings – she's ashamed.

"Why? Why do you take the blame onto your own shoulders?" he asks her. He knows he doesn't need to clarify what he means. As if to confirm it, she answers his question without having to ask him to explain.

"You don't know what it's like, to be trapped and afraid day after day… never knowing what your abuser will do next, what little thing will set him off…feeling ashamed that you're not strong enough to overcome him."

"But I do know what it's like," his deep, gravelled voice is husky with emotion. "I have experienced this for myself when I was a prisoner of the Genii. It is not easy, to feel helpless, to have someone else in control of whether you live or die, so much so that you eventually start to blame yourself for your predicament. But you are strong and, like me, you will get over it." He tenderly runs the back of one finger across her cheekbone and up over her temple. "And remember: what does not kill you makes you stronger."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I wish to improve our relationship."

"This is a relationship?" she asks him.

"What else would you call it?" He holds her gaze until she looks down and turns away, but he can tell that she's smiling.

oOo

Even Debs can sense the shift in Babs' attitude, the tangible relaxation of her whole being. So, two weeks later, it's not such a surprise as it might have been to hear her say, "Look what I did, Todd."

He takes the pad she holds out to him and looks at a sketch of himself, rendered in pencil with soft washes of the paints he had given her. He looks back at her and smiles. "It's a good likeness. Tomorrow we will reach the new planetary system. Perhaps you'd enjoy documenting their environments in paintings?"

"I'd like that very much," she says and smiles back at him.

He takes her hand and lifts her to her feet, touching her face gently with his other hand. Debs can sense what's coming next but can't bring herself to look away as Todd lowers his head and brushes his lips lightly across Babs' forehead. She doesn't pull away from him. He kisses her nose and she closes her eyes. He kisses each eyelid softly and then slowly, tentatively, he kisses her lips.

Debs holds her breath. She smiles as Babs tips her head back and lets Todd kiss her again. Her shoulders visibly relax when he encloses her in his embrace. Then Todd sweeps her up into his arms and she actually snakes her arms around his neck, wrapping the fingers of one hand in his hair.

As Todd carries Babs off into their sleep chamber, Debs leaves their rooms, knowing that the friend she used to know is back again.

She wanders through the corridors of this wraith hive she feels so strangely safe and comfortable in, her happiness tangible, like a cloak she can draw around herself for warmth. She reaches the observation bay and watches, mesmerized, as they get closer and closer to the new planetary system. As she watches their new home unfolding in front of her eyes, she knows in her heart that this life of theirs is going to be a happy one now.

THE END


End file.
